Editing BDSM (section)

=== Orientation observances in research ===
BDSM is considered by some of its practitioners to be a sexual orientation.<ref>Jillian Keenan, [http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/08/18/is_kink_a_sexual_orientation.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111130050/http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/08/18/is_kink_a_sexual_orientation.html|date=11 November 2014}}, ''Slate'', 18 August 2014</ref> The BDSM and [[Kink (sexuality)|kink]] scene is more often seen as a diverse pansexual community. Often this is a non-judgmental community where gender, sexuality, orientation, preferences are accepted as is or worked at to become something a person can be happy with.<ref>Weiss, M. D. (2006). Working at play: BDSM sexuality in the San Francisco Bay area. Anthropologica, 229-245.</ref> In research, studies have focused on bisexuality and its parallels with BDSM, as well as gay-straight differences between practitioners.

==== Asexuality  ====
It has been suggested that some [[asexuality|asexual]] people have found a language for navigating relationships through BDSM.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jolene Sloan |first1=Lorca  |date=2015-02-27 |title=Ace of (BDSM) clubs: Building asexual relationships through BDSM practice |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460714550907 |journal=Sexualities  |volume= 18|issue=5–6 |pages=548–563 |doi=10.1177/1363460714550907  |access-date=2024-08-28}}</ref>

==== Bisexuality ====
In Steve Lenius' original 2001 paper, he explored the acceptance of [[bisexuality]] in a supposedly [[Pansexuality|pansexual]] BDSM community. The reasoning behind this is that 'coming-out' had become primarily the territory of the gay and lesbian, with bisexuals feeling the push to be one or the other (and being right only half the time either way). What he found in 2001, was that people in BDSM were open to discussion about the topic of bisexuality and pansexuality and all controversies they bring to the table, but personal biases and issues stood in the way of actively using such labels. A decade later, Lenius (2011) looks back on his study and considers if anything has changed. He concluded that the standing of bisexuals in the BDSM and [[Kink (sexuality)|kink]] community was unchanged, and believed that positive shifts in attitude were moderated by society's changing views towards different sexualities and orientations. But Lenius (2011) does emphasize that the pansexual promoting BDSM community helped advance greater acceptance of alternative sexualities.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lenius | first1 = S | year = 2001 | title = Bisexuals and BDSM | journal = [[Journal of Bisexuality]] | volume = 1 | issue = #4| pages = 69–78 | doi=10.1300/j159v01n04_06| s2cid = 142599575 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lenius | first1 = S | year = 2011 | title = A Reflection on "Bisexuals and BDSM: Bisexual People in a Pansexual Community"—Ten Years Later (and a Preview of the Next Sexual Revolution) | journal = [[Journal of Bisexuality]] | volume = 11 | issue = #4| pages = 420–425 | doi=10.1080/15299716.2011.620466| s2cid = 143156292 }}</ref>

Brandy Lin Simula (2012), on the other hand, argues that BDSM actively resists gender-conforming and identified three different types of BDSM bisexuality: [[Gender bender|gender-switching]], gender-based styles (taking on a different gendered style depending on the gender of partner when playing), and rejection of gender (resisting the idea that gender matters in their play partners). Simula (2012) explains that practitioners of BDSM routinely challenge our concepts of sexuality by pushing the limits on pre-existing ideas of sexual orientation and gender norms. For some, BDSM and kink provides a platform in creating identities that are fluid, ever-changing.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Simula | first1 = B. L. | year = 2012 | title = Does Bisexuality 'Undo' Gender? Gender, Sexuality, and Bisexual Behavior Among BDSM Participants | journal = [[Journal of Bisexuality]] | volume = 12 | issue = #4| pages = 484–506 | doi=10.1080/15299716.2012.729430| s2cid = 144476771 }}</ref>

==== Comparison between gay and straight men in S/M ====
Demographically, Nordling et al.'s (2006) study found no differences in age, but 43% of gay male respondents compared to 29% of straight males had university-level education. The gay men also had higher incomes than the general population and tended to work in [[white-collar worker|white-collar]] jobs while straight men tended toward [[blue-collar]] ones. Because there were not enough female respondents (22), no conclusions could be drawn from them.

Sexually speaking, the same 2006 study by Nordling et al. found that gay males were aware of their S/M preferences and took part in them at an earlier age, preferring [[Leather subculture|leather]], [[anal sex]], [[rimming]], [[dildo]]s and special equipment or uniform scenes. In contrast, straight men preferred verbal humiliation, mask and blindfolds, [[Gag (BDSM)|gags]], [[Latex and PVC fetishism|rubber/latex]] outfits, [[caning]], [[vaginal sex]], [[straitjacket]]s, and [[cross-dressing]] among other activities. From the questionnaire, researchers were able to identify four separate sexual themes: [[Hypermasculinity|hyper-masculinity]], giving and receiving pain, physical restriction (i.e. bondage), and psychological humiliation. Gay men preferred activities that tended towards hyper-masculinity while straight men showed greater preference for humiliation, significantly higher [[Domination (BDSM)|master]]/[[Femdom|madame-slave]] role play at ≈84%. Though there were not enough female respondents to draw a similar conclusion with, the fact that there is a difference in gay and straight men suggests strongly that S/M (and BDSM in general) can not be considered a homogenous phenomenon. As Nordling et al. (2006) puts it, "People who identify as sadomasochists mean different things by these identifications." (54)<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Nordling | first1 = N. | last2 = Sandnabba | first2 = N. K. | last3 = Santtila | first3 = P. | last4 = Alison | first4 = L. | year = 2006 | title = Differences and similarities between gay and straight individuals involved in the sadomasochistic subculture | journal = Journal of Homosexuality | volume = 50 | issue = #2–3| pages = 41–57 | doi=10.1300/j082v50n02_03| pmid = 16803758 | s2cid = 25370996 }}</ref>